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Re: PH120 foundation

Barry here is a idea how to fasten the bottom of the foundation to the frame. Instead of buying pf120's whicch are for medium frames, you could buy some pf100's, which are for deep frames. Then use frames that have grooved top and bottom boards, and cut the foundation to fit in the medium frames. Let me know if this sounds like it would work, because I am thinking about trying it?

Re: PH120 foundation

I am at this late time in the season drawing out a lot of plastic frames mann lake deeps and mediums. I started thirty splits on used equipment and every one of them had AFB confirmed by Beltsville. I just shook out the last of them last week! Some of the frames which I always order waxless because I have clean wax and they are cheaper, did not get coated. The bees put in this predicament are drawing the frames out very well. They are brooding up as fast as they can and I have high hopes of getting them numerically strong enough a nd with enough stores to winter. Pierco frames are better quality and I really wish they were small cell. If that was the case, I would never buy wood again.

Re: PH120 foundation

I think plastic would make more sense in terms of disease too. You could just bleach them instead of burning your investment. I just notice my bees do not work the plastic frames as well as natural foundation. The edges of the frames always taper down to unused portions. I did notice something that could be useful though. For whatever reason some frames had a circular area(s) removed (I'm assuming the previous owner did it), perhaps queen cell cut outs or maybe the bees did it, I don't know. They're about the size of a quarter or so. In almost every one of them, the bees have built queen cups in them and they fit perfectly. I'm thinking it would be interesting to see if you could get queens built that way, insert a plastic frame with rows of circular cutouts outs on both sides and see if they build a bunch of queen cups in them. Now only if someone would make queencups that could lock onto plastic frames like legos.......

Re: PH120 foundation

The foundation can be cut from the PF frames and the resulting panel is exact size of a regular foundation. The top and bottom only needs to have the raised cell portion cut back about 3/16 of an inch by running it over the table saw set that much above the table. 4 passes and the top and bottom is reduced to the width of the slot and can be popped into a regular wooden frame. I just did a few free hand but suggest a feather board of some sort to keep the foundation against the fence as it is a bit wibbly once the frame is lost. A fine tooth plywood blade for your table saw would be nice when cutting off the frame. I may try the band saw when doing the rest.

Re: PH120 foundation

Thanks crofter I have a couple of frames ordered to practice on then I plan on regressing my hives this spring. Now I have to find the easiest way to get the brads out of my frames from when I nailed the paint sticks in them, for foundationless.

Re: PH120 foundation

Originally Posted by sfisher

Instead of buying pf120's whicch are for medium frames, you could buy some pf100's, which are for deep frames. Then use frames that have grooved top and bottom boards, and cut the foundation to fit in the medium frames.

I like this idea. That is basically what I do now with my SC wax foundation as it is the deep size. Another advantage is it allows a space for drone cells at the bottom. Good idea!

Re: PF-120 foundation

I cut out 120 PF frames on Sunday, they turned out nice. I cut the foundation out on the table saw, and then cut the embossed honey comb off the edges with a router. I bought medium PFs and the foundation popped right into grooved top, grooved bottom medium frames. The wax coating on the PF foundation made it want to stick to the tables of the saw and router. They sell it without the wax coating, and its cheaper, but then you have to pay the shipping so its not really worth it. I also cut about a inch of the bottom corners at a 45, for the queen to pass through. Steve

Re: PH120 foundation

If you trim PF120's to remove all four frame edges, the remaining, PF120 foundation will fit in medium frames with grooved Top and Bottom Bars (sometimes I find that I need to shave a 1/8" wide strips both top and bottom, removing some of the cell walls, so the foundation will, more easily fit in the wooden frame grooves), this is how I do mine.

Re: PH120 foundation

Originally Posted by JRG13

Beeman, you can order 4.9 foundation from ML as well.

JRG13,

Thanks for that info. I must have missed it when I looked. I only found the PH120. I wanted just foundation sheets if I could find them otherwise this was my next choice. I really need deep foundation for my experiment.

Re: PH120 foundation

An update on these frames. As life has a way of going it's own direction, my plans for this spring trying out these frames got derailed due to traveling. But, I was able to hand them off to my neighbor and help her get started in beekeeping. We did a hive inspection last week and added the third brood chamber. The frames we pulled out, the comb looked real nice. I was very pleased with the results. I plan to take some pictures and do some measuring in the next week and will post them here.

Looks like I will start converting over to this frame/foundation setup.

We still have a bunch of PF100's that we'll cut in half and mount into wooden frames as well. If results are good, it will be cheaper to do this.

Re: PH120 foundation

Those look great! You are giving me ideas! I was wondering if you could post a pic of them drawn out. I am too impatient to see what it looks like when 5.4 bees draw 4.9 cells. I could just wait a few weeks though I suppose =)